CAIRO – Egypt's state news agency says a drive-by shooting on a highway east of Cairo has left three policemen dead.

MENA says the attack took place early on Wednesday as the three policemen were patrolling the Suez-Ismailia road. Unidentified gunmen opened fire from their car on the police vehicle and fled the scene.

The agency says authorities are investigating and searching for the attackers.

Bombings, suicide attacks and drive-by shooting have surged in the country since the military's ouster of Islamist President Mohammed Morsi last summer.

An al-Qaida-inspired militant group has claimed responsibility for most of the attacks. The government accuses Morsi's group, the Muslim Brotherhood, of orchestrating the attacks and has branded it a terrorist organization. The Brotherhood denies the accusations.